This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
On 23-25th July the Alpine Club was running a trip to the Rainbow Valley, a major headwater tributary of the Wairau River in central Marlborough, A few Tongue & Meats decided to tag along and see what it was all about, Friday night was a bit Of an abortion since Our Landrover (Our back-up vehicle in thecry) cOllected a puncture just beyond the Wairau bridge. Unfortunately the spare was flat too just what dreams are made of. Thev were both fixed back at the Wairau garage On Saturday morning, but One blew out again at the old Rainbow homestead, Sad really, as it now meant that we had to walk all the way. We started at midday making fast time up the easy grass and gravel flats to Rainbow but where some of us had lunch =- namely the trampers, Tony had to cross the river to get to the brew so he tried walking on water but this trick still doesn't work and he got a wet bottom to prove it, About four hours Of solid walking got us to basecamp at the north/south branch junction, just under Mt, McKay. Unfortunately most Of us walked up in climbing boots but these boots aren't made for walking and we all got blisters. Never again! Net much was done on Saturday but a good time was had by al]. Actually the weather foYled us a fair bit because under all the morning crud there was a lovely day. Us three Tongue & Meats had a play on McKay but due to a multitude of reasons we didn't get too far, Not to worry. Uther parties climbed Paske and fiddled around on Kehu.
There was anOther foolish dawn on Monday and Tony predicted rain by 2 O'Clock, so nothing further was done and it's too late to regret it now ~- it actually turned out to be another beaut day, consequently the journey Out was quite enjoyable except for the s0re feet,
There was sOmée lovely scenery in the upper valley (above the gorge) and we stopped often to admire several rather striking I mountains, especially 6975' above Begley forks, The ‘climbers' expected us tO be real tearaways but such was not the case as we were here to enjoy ourselves, We reached our vehicles about. mid afternoon and thankfully had an uneventful journey home... And what did we think Of the Rainbow? Well worth a visit anda . valley to suit all tastes, It's especially good for a winter Or spring trip with only a four to five hour walk to get up to a good basecamp from which a number Of interesting peaks can * be climbed, The mountains were plastered with snow, much more © than I had expected and this added considerably to the attractiveness of the alpine scenery. _ But the crunch is that cattle have the run Of the valley and have unfortunately polluted everywhere, even up-to the tussock edge. This @id tend to spoil it somewhat. And the farmer is touchy but you need his permission to go through, Phone him first, Of course there is a lot of good country down here which is being sadly neglected by the tramping club, Lees Valley, Branch River, Raglan Range and Scotts Know would be well worthwhile. Why not try something sometime. The Tongue & Meats were Paul Delisle, Tony Gazley and Paul Richardson. (scribbler) along with nine Others.
Newsletter Hd =- P, Richardson.